The two rights but one egregious wrong: The following is an exchange I had with a blogger on the Metro West site in response to a pro Hamas anti Israel opinion. The link to the opinion of a person named Cardigain prompting the disagreement is: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinion/letters/x281387996/Cadigan-Blockade-of-Gaza-a-disgrace

One man wrote:

Cutting off food and supplies to 1.5 million people is barbaric -period. There is no justification on Earth to cut off water, food, and medical supplies, unless you want to ignite a new round of war. The genocide of Jews was not carried out by Arabs...but by Europeans. Jews and Arabs have NOT been fighting for 2000 years....but Jews and Europeans have. Since the Romans invaded it just has not been a very pleasant experience for most Jews and Europeans to mix. In England thousands of Jews were expelled from the kingdom long before the 1492 inquisition. I don't consider Hamas any better or worse than the right wing Jews who supported the assassination of Rabin at the hands of another Jew. More than 80% of all Jews and Palestinians want peace and a peaceful solution to the ongoing blood bath. There are over 1.5 million Israelite Arabs...who live every day within the state of Israel. It is not Arabs that is our enemy. The enemy is ongoing justification of warmongering -demonetization- ignorance of history, and the thinking that any one side can live without the other..They can not. A successful Middle east--political and economic and social-will exist when all groups decide enough people have been murdered. In Europe the price has been high for a fragile peace of today. During the past 100 years 50 million or more Europeans have died in brainless war. Accomplishing little but to invest in new weapons more destructive than the last. I reject the violence and I reject the hatred. More than ever I reject the notion Jews and Arabs are enemies. The day the British and French thought they could determine peoples lives without consulting them has lead the world down a path justifying empire and colonialism instead of what America stands for. Palestinians deserve to be free and safe as well as a Jewish State has its right to be free and safe. There is no other path for either side..the respect and dignity the Israelis want -they should receive but-can never stop being shown toward the Palestinian people as well.
Jewish, American, and hungry--time to get some chips.
LK

I responded

Believe it or not LK I agree with some of what you say. There is no question inhumanity on both sides is an egregious fact. However, where I part company with much of the left is that Hamas, despite having been elected, still represents and EXISTENTIAL threat to the Jewish state. That is simply a fact irrespective of the rationale of the Holocaust for the state of Israel. No, Arabs were not to blame for that BUT I really must take issue with what you say a bit. Arabs in the body of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem were squarely on the Axis side and moreover Muslim troops in the Baltic countries volunteered for the Nazi Wafen SS during WWII. Why? Perhaps they could agree with their policy of the 'Jewish question.' Little is known about that.

Jews have ALWAYS been in Israel as Arabs have as well but it was not until the UN partition of it , because no one wanted Jewish refugees in THEIR countries, that the State of Israel was born. It was not only then given to Jews in 1948 but it made provisions for Arabs too. But that wasn't enough for the Arab population. Before that, Jews bought land from Arabs who gladly sold it to them. After the UN mandate all of a sudden they wanted it back and the 1948 war ultimately broke out. Peace has been elusive ever since.

There is NO disputing the fact that most of those who comprise the power arm of Hamas want to eradicate the Jew from the land and have said so countless times. I, curiously, believe them. Perhaps the majority of Palestinians want a two state solution but the public policy of Hamas does NOT. It would be suicide for the Jewish people , yet again, to not make damn well sure they will NOT face another annihilation attempt.

In addition, what is wrong with humanity seeing that another part of humanity -- THE SIX MILLION -- could be a rationale to have made room for those who survived. Why is humanitarian policy so observed by some on the left but when it comes to Jews, well, no one cares. Oh sure it's not an Arab problem. Well, it became everyone's problem ... sorry. That cannot be denied and Arabs at that moment in history were perfectly okay with a Hitlerian alignment before World War II's end.

You will forgive me if I am sick of five thousand years of getting bounced around in nearly every corner of the globe including the Middle East after the rise of Islam in the 8th century. Arabs in many lands at various times unpredictably were not accepting of Jews either. Sure, maybe they were not exactly responsible for the Holocaust but who of them would have shed a tear if it was entirely successful which it almost was.

I once read the phrase years ago "Jewish destiny is in Jewish hands." I still believe it to this day. That does not mean I countenance cruelty but when Hamas is willing to agree to a two-state solution recognizing the safety and security of State of Israel then I will be more discerningly critical.

I can never forget, I always remember every day, every minute the beyond belief destruction of the Jewish people -- the Shoah -- during those fateful years. It is NEVER out of my mind for even a day. It is the rationale for all that I am. Should Europeans feel bad for what they have done? A resounding YES -- for as long as man resides on this planet. Could the Arab population have helped at that time? A RESOUNDING YES, as well. Humanitarian behavior works both ways.

Shoe Heard Round the World: I Polished up my viewpoint by making some small changes and sent it on to the Globe and Metro West News.


Some have said that the shoe thrower should have voiced his opposition to US policy by verbally registering his anger instead of throwing a shoe. Do those who would suggest that really think that the Iraqi journalist who opposes an occupier and an invader under false pretenses has any hope of vociferously uttering disagreement of US policy? How would we feel if we were god forbid invaded by a foreign country with massive weaponry equipped with shock and awe deployment and then that foreign power stayed unwanted in our country for an undetermined amount of time?

That journalist was making an insulting statement loud and clear by Arab standards NOT American standards, the only way he could and be observed and heard by the entire world. Bush was right he wanted attention and attention he got. He wanted attention to shout that he hated the US violent invasion and occupation of his country. He hated an invasion which was directly responsible for the sectarian violence and killing that followed. He hated the ruination of what stability that country had, and he hated most probably the elevation of Iran and the entrance of Al Qaeda into his country where it never existed before. Without US interference, for better or worse, Sadam, who knew how to control that country, would probably still be in power today. It, indeed, may not have been heaven but may have been a hell of a lot better then what ensued after his fall. Better is a relative term. The hubris of the unnecessary preemptive US invasion promulgated through lies might make one just a little bit irritated. How effective would a verbal or written objection by that journalist be? Let's face it it would have meant nothing. One might say this was the shoe throw that was heard round the world.

So which is worse to that journalist, Sadam's hammer-like but relatively stable rule or the US invasion which killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, sent millions into exile, decimated and tortured families creating what is now really a failed state? Some said what the journalist did is a joke to the American people. I don't think so and I do not think it is a joke in the Arab world. It is far too serious and the symbolism too great to be a joke and certainly that is no joke to me!